


Bartering

by Hyliare



Series: Breaking the Ice: A Collection of 221Bs [8]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 221B Ficlet, Can Be Read As Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2014-03-17
Packaged: 2018-01-16 01:24:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1326592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyliare/pseuds/Hyliare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Chinese market can be a source of cheap knickknacks, or a source of even cheaper entertainment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bartering

Sherlock didn’t care for haggling; he found it tedious. He wanted to know the price of things, of everything, so he could set aside portions of his spending money for _x_ amount of this, and _y_ amount of that. He wanted to organize his shopping—to plan within a few pence, if he could—immediately after his first sweep of a market.

Trips into London had been relatively rare during his childhood. They were saved for exposure to the arts, or the occasional visit to his mother’s colleagues. One trip stood out: it wasn’t a particularly fond memory, but it had its own group of colourful stalls in the Mind Palace, covered with ceramics and kites and silky cloth. Chinatown. Mycroft had found it fascinating, and within ten minutes he’d gained enough contextual vocabulary (adding to his already-passable Mandarin) to argue with vendors about their prices. And it _was_ arguing. Sherlock didn’t even care for the _word_ “haggling.” Luckily, the vendors were happy to sell their goods with no discount whatsoever. He could remember Mycroft rolling his eyes. Sherlock had knocked his last _jiaozi_ out of his hands.

So the Chinatown bazaar didn’t hold much fondness for Sherlock, beyond interesting cases or good food, but he still found himself perusing the stalls with a smirk.

Because John was _terrible_ at bartering.

 


End file.
